User's Manual
Increase performance
27
TuneUp Drive Defrag
There are many reasons why, over time, a computer runs noticeably slower. One of them is
the gradual fragmentation of the hard disk. You can picture it like this: Each new file is
stored on an empty disk in one piece immediately after the previous one. When Windows
requests a file, the read head only needs to move once to be able to read the entire file in
one operation.
If an application deletes a file from the middle, it leaves a gap. Windows uses this gap later
to store the next new file on the disk. If, however, the space available in this gap isn't big
enough for the new file, Windows breaks the file into two pieces and puts the second piece
somewhere else that's free. Over time, more and more gaps are created and more and
more new or modified files are stored in more and more fragments. This causes a
considerable slowdown in computer performance: The disk's read head must repeatedly be
moved to read in each of the file fragments. Where previously one or two revolutions of the
hard disk were sufficient to read the data into memory, now perhaps ten or a hundred
times as may revolutions are needed.
TuneUp Drive Defrag is carried out to restore the optimal condition of the hard disk. The
software intelligently defragments and organizes the disk in such a way that all of the files
are once again positioned one after the other on the disk, thus making it faster to read.
TuneUp Drive Defrag is particularly clever in the way it determines the order of the newly
sorted files. System files that are needed often, for example, are placed at the beginning of
the disk so that Windows can access them even quicker than would be possible on a disk
defragmented in the normal way. It is clear, of course, that this kind of defragmentation
takes a little longer than simply putting file fragments together. For this reason, TuneUp
Drive Defrag is run with very low priority so that you can continue working undisturbed.
Once completed, the process significantly speeds up Windows startup. Frequently used
programs start up quicker. This again noticeably improves Windows performance.
Another advantage of TuneUp Drive Defrag is automatic scheduling:
You don't have to worry about it anymore, because TuneUp Utilities 2009 takes care of it
automatically as part of the regular weekly TuneUp 1-Click Maintenance
The
. You are
always on the safe side and have an efficient computer.
Drive analysis
TuneUp Drive Defrag startup screen shows you all available hard disk drives and
their drive letters. The program initially selects all drives for analysis. You can deselect
individual drives with the mouse.